1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system that allows automatic monitoring of objects using a rotatable surveillance camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Stationary automatic surveillance cameras are installed on roads for measuring traffic congestion and the like on the roads, in which image data of the camera are processed to automatically detect phenomena such as traffic congestion.
Meanwhile, there are also movable-type rotational surveillance cameras installed on roads to take pictures at any desired magnification and field of view by manual remote operation.
The automatic surveillance cameras mentioned first are aimed at detecting abnormalities on the roads with high accuracy, and for image processing reasons, their field of view and magnification cannot be changed.
The rotational surveillance cameras mentioned second allow free control of the field of view and magnification and can photograph any object on the road or in the vicinity of the road. However, since they are intended only for viewing pictures, they themselves do not have image processing functions.
In addition, it has been impossible for one surveillance camera to serve as both the automatic surveillance camera and rotational surveillance camera, and therefore they need to be installed separately.
One possible reason for the difficulty to make one surveillance camera serve as both types of cameras is the failure to accurately reproduce the orientation of a surveillance camera when the camera is used again as the automatic surveillance camera after use thereof as the rotational surveillance camera. When the surveillance camera is used as the automatic surveillance camera, since the camera is overlooking the road for a long distance, even a minor difference in orientation leads to a great degradation in the accuracy for detecting physical quantities such as vehicle speed, adversely affecting the detection of phenomena. Reproducing the orientation of the surveillance camera with high accuracy is therefore desired.
Providing a turntable with a mechanism for automatically controlling the position and angle may be one possible idea for accurately setting the orientation of the surveillance camera. However, this complicates the structure of the turntable and increases the cost, reducing the practicality.